TONIGHT IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Milwaukee at NY Mets 2nd Game ---------------------------------------------------------------- FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- A pair of pitchers looking to climb over the break-even mark take the hill when the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers meet tonight in the second game of a twi-night doubleheader. New York's Masato Yoshii (3-3, 4.70 ERA) and Milwaukee's Steve Woodard (3-3, 3.90) are the mound opponents. Yoshii was on the verge of being removed from the Mets' five-man rotation after posting a 1-3 mark and surrendering 17 runs over his first four starts. But the righthander has rebounded nicely, going 2-0 and yielding just three runs in his last three outings. He gave up three runs and five hits over six innings in a 7-3 win at Philadelphia on Friday. Woodard has alternated wins and losses this year and is coming off a sterling complete-game four-hitter in a 7-2 win over Florida on Saturday. That start came after Woodard's worst outing of the season. He was pasted for six runs and 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings at San Francisco on May 8. St Louis (21-17) at San Diego (15-23) 5:05 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Fresh off an improbable come-from-behind victory, the San Diego Padres look to take the rubber game of their three-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals. Trailing by three runs entering the bottom of the ninth, the Padres pulled out a 7-6 win thanks to five walks by the St. Louis bullpen and a game-winning bases-loaded double by Dave Magadan. San Diego, which had been 0-20 when trailing after eight innings, snapped a three-game losing streak. The Cardinals suffered their first loss in 20 contests when leading entering the ninth. Tony Gwynn had one hit on Wednesday, pulling him within 25 of the 3,000-hit plateau. Gwynn also had a sacrifice fly in the ninth before Magadan smacked his fourth hit. One bright spot for St. Louis was the performance of Mark McGwire, who broke out of slump with three hits, including his ninth homer, and three RBI. Kent Bottenfield (6-1, 3.02 ERA) hopes to continue his stellar season when he takes the hill for the Cardinals tonight. Bottenfield, a converted reliever, has already surpassed his season-best win total and is shooting for his third straight victory this afternoon. He allowed four runs and nine hits over six innings in an 8-5 triumph against Los Angeles on Saturday. Bottenfield is 0-1 with a 6.32 career ERA against the Padres. Lefthander Sterling Hitchcock (3-2, 4.70) makes his ninth start for the Padres. Hitchcock allowed five runs and three hits in a 6-2 loss at Cincinnati on Saturday, absorbing his first setback in four starts. Hitchcock is 1-1 with a 2.52 ERA in six career starts against the Cardinals. Pittsburgh (19-20) at Florida (11-29) 7:05 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- MIAMI (Ticker) -- The slumping Pittsburgh Pirates hope to snap a six-game road losing streak and climb back to .500 when they visit the floundering Florida Marlins. Francisco Cordova made his first start since coming off the disabled list on Wednesday and surrendered a go-ahead grand slam to Brian Jordan in a 7-3 loss at Atlanta. The Pirates were swept in the three-game set and have not won a game on the road since a 12-9 victory at St. Louis on May 9. Pittsburgh will send rookie Kris Benson (3-2, 3.72 ERA) to the hill in search of his third straight win. The first overall pick in the 1996 draft has allowed three runs in 15 innings over his last two outings, including a 5-3 win against Montreal on Friday. The Marlins keep finding new ways to lose games. Chicago's Henry Rodriguez belted his second homer of the game with two out in the ninth inning, handing Florida its third straight setback, 8-7, Wednesday. Florida has suffered 11 straight home defeats and has not won at Pro Player Stadium since blanking the Cubs, 8-0, on April 27. Brian Meadows (3-4, 4.94) was one of the lone bright spots in the early season for Florida, racing out to a 3-0 start. He has lost four straight decisions since and the Marlins have not registered a victory in any of his last five starts. Meadows lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his last outing, allowing four runs and eight hits in a 7-2 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday. He is 0-2 in his career against the Pirates. Pittsburgh took six of nine meetings from Florida last season. Chicago Cubs (20-17) at Atlanta (25-14) 7:40 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Struggling for one of the few times in his illustrious career, Greg Maddux looks to end a personal three-game losing streak tonight as the Atlanta Braves open a four-game series against the Chicago Cubs. Maddux (4-3, 4.83 ERA) started the season in usual form, winning his first four decisions. But the righthander has been lit up for 18 runs and 36 hits in his last three starts, spanning 17 1/3 innings for a 9.47 ERA. Maddux's three-game losing streak is his longest since dropping four straight decisions from July 20-August 8, 1996. Maddux lost to the Cubs on Saturday, yielding five runs and 14 hits in seven innings. He is 7-2 lifetime against his former team. The Braves topped the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3, on Wednesday for their fourth straight victory. Atlanta, which has won 10 of its last 11 at home, moved one-half game ahead of Houston for the best record in the National League. The Cubs rallied for an 8-7 victory over Florida on Wednesday for their third straight win. Chicago has won five of its last six games and is 9-3 against National League East teams. Coming off his best start of the season, Steve Trachsel (2-4, 4.55) takes the mound for Chicago. The righthander was tagged for 10 runs and 17 hits over 12 2/3 innings in his last two starts before a complete-game victory over Atlanta on Saturday. The Cubs are 2-6 with Trachsel on the mound. Trachsel improved to 2-5 lifetime against the Braves in nine appearances with Saturday's win. The Cubs took two of three from the Braves last week at Wrigley Field. The Braves snapped a seven-game regular-season losing streak against Chicago with an 8-5 victory in the series finale on Sunday. Arizona (23-18) at Colorado (15-21) 9:05 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- DENVER (Ticker) -- Luis Gonzalez will try to start another hitting streak tonight as the Arizona Diamondbacks open a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies. Gonzalez went 0-for-4 in Wednesday's 8-3 loss to San Francisco, snapping his 30-game hitting streak, the longest in the National League since 1989. He struck out in the first, fourth and eighth and grounded out in the sixth. The last time he went an entire game without a hit was April 10 against Atlanta. The loss dropped the Diamondbacks into a first-place tie with the Giants in the National League West. Lefthander Randy Johnson (4-1, 3.18 ERA) makes his first career appearance at Coors Field when he starts for Arizona, which has won seven of its last 10. The "Big Unit" is gunning for his fourth straight victory and second in a row over Colorado. He tossed a three-hitter in his last outing, posting a 9-2 win over the Rockies on Saturday. The Rockies look to rebound from Wednesday's nightmarish 24-12 loss to Cincinnati in which they allowed a franchise-record 28 hits. It marked the second time this season Colorado yielded at least 20 runs at home, also losing to Atlanta, 20-5, on April 18. Colorado starts Darryl Kile (2-3, 5.98), who is coming off his worst outing of the season. The righthander allowed eight runs and 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings in a 9-2 loss at Arizona on Saturday. Kile has won only one of his last six outings, a 6-2 victory at St. Louis on April 29. He did not have a decision in his previous two home starts this season. Red-hot Larry Walker went 4-for-5 Wednesday, extending his hitting streak to 20 games and raising his average to .431. Walker's streak is the third-longest in Colorado history, trailing Vinny Castilla (23) and Dante Bichette (22). The Rockies suffered a three-game sweep to the Reds after winning two of three in Arizona last weekend and have fallen a season-high six games under .500. Houston (24-14) at Los Angeles (21-18) 10:10 pm EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------- LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers will face red-hot Mike Hampton tonight when they oppose the Houston Astros in the rubber game of a three-game set. Hampton (5-1, 2.80 ERA) seeks his fifth straight win for the Astros. The lefthander went 1-1 in his first four starts before winning his last four. During his winning streak, Hampton has surrendered just four earned runs and 16 hits over 31 innings for a sparkling 1.16 ERA. Hampton won seven straight games from July 2-August 12, 1997. Hampton gave up two runs and seven hits over 7 1/3 innings in a 6-2 victory over the Dodgers last season. He is 3-2 with a 4.32 ERA in eight career games against them. Kevin Brown pitched eight strong innings and Eric Karros hit a two-run homer as the Dodgers overcame a pair of solo shots by Jeff Bagwell in a 5-2 victory on Wednesday. The win ended a three-game losing streak for Los Angeles, which is 12-7 against teams with a .500 record or better and 9-11 against sub-.500 clubs. The loss was just the second in eight games for Houston, which is one-half game behind Atlanta for the best record in the National League. Chan Ho Park (3-3, 5.32) gets the ball for Los Angeles. The righthander lost his last start at St. Louis on Saturday, allowing five runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. He had surrendered just six runs over 19 2/3 innings in his previous three starts. Park was roughed up for five runs and eight hits over three innings against Houston last season but escaped with a no-decision.  